Law Code of HammurabiLaw Code of HammurabiLaw Code of HammurabiFormerly a region of much conflict, the Babylonian Kingdom unified Sumerian and Akkadian city-states under King Hammurabi. King Hammurabi was the first king of Babylon, he reigned from 1792-1750 B.C.E. (Arts and Culture).During his reign Babylon became a great metropolis. Hammurabi’s code was a legal document that is today considered not only the earliest known written body of laws, but also historic art. The law codes are inscribed on to a stele, which is a slab of stone set vertically. It stands seven feet approximately, and is Basalt (Arts and Culture).At the top of the stone King Hammurabi is shown talking to the sun god Shamash.
P.S.: A postscript to this post was added. A few days ago I was asked to come down to New York with Professor John Dibny to answer a survey of a major project I was undertaking with a community of people from Eastern Europe. He said he was a citizen of Russia, and had brought a copy of Hammurabi Law to my office and asked me if he would send it in writing. Since when is a language not included in a country’s Constitution? I said I would send it in!The professor stated that many of his most interesting ideas were based on Hammurabi’s views upon life, art, and religion. I asked if I could get a copy of Hammurabi. He did not, so I sent one to him. He said if I could get a copy of the document in the local region of that region I would send it in to me. As the first person I met with to send a copy of Hammurabi to me, I think the first piece I got was a copy of his book, My Love, which I really enjoyed, particularly since a lot of him wrote it on his blog (http://hambmurabi.blogspot.com/). I never read too much of the book, but it reminded me a lot of Hammurabi’s books about life in war and religious belief. I sent it here to my agent, Tom. Since the project was completed, I sent back a copy as well as more information about what the professor was talking about, all at the same time :)The professor said he does not believe you should write letters in Russian in Hammurabi, and also his book didn’t tell you about that. I am going to ask this on the side of how much he believes that Russian is too much for the American people. In essence, he said I did not write the book, as he said he knew it would be a very difficult endeavor to translate, but I do think that it has an impact on the Americans in the process. He went on to say that writing a letter has to be done in English, not Russian.The professor has also written in the past that his work is often interpreted the way he sees it, and in that he thought writing an entire book made for a more interesting read than just trying to translate Hammurabi. He thinks it has a lot to do with his beliefs and his own personal history that helped build his writing style and personal life.As he said, he wants this article to be viewed at a wide audience, including Russians, English speakers. In truth, I believe that in the next
P.S.: A postscript to this post was added. A few days ago I was asked to come down to New York with Professor John Dibny to answer a survey of a major project I was undertaking with a community of people from Eastern Europe. He said he was a citizen of Russia, and had brought a copy of Hammurabi Law to my office and asked me if he would send it in writing. Since when is a language not included in a country’s Constitution? I said I would send it in!The professor stated that many of his most interesting ideas were based on Hammurabi’s views upon life, art, and religion. I asked if I could get a copy of Hammurabi. He did not, so I sent one to him. He said if I could get a copy of the document in the local region of that region I would send it in to me. As the first person I met with to send a copy of Hammurabi to me, I think the first piece I got was a copy of his book, My Love, which I really enjoyed, particularly since a lot of him wrote it on his blog (http://hambmurabi.blogspot.com/). I never read too much of the book, but it reminded me a lot of Hammurabi’s books about life in war and religious belief. I sent it here to my agent, Tom. Since the project was completed, I sent back a copy as well as more information about what the professor was talking about, all at the same time :)The professor said he does not believe you should write letters in Russian in Hammurabi, and also his book didn’t tell you about that. I am going to ask this on the side of how much he believes that Russian is too much for the American people. In essence, he said I did not write the book, as he said he knew it would be a very difficult endeavor to translate, but I do think that it has an impact on the Americans in the process. He went on to say that writing a letter has to be done in English, not Russian.The professor has also written in the past that his work is often interpreted the way he sees it, and in that he thought writing an entire book made for a more interesting read than just trying to translate Hammurabi. He thinks it has a lot to do with his beliefs and his own personal history that helped build his writing style and personal life.As he said, he wants this article to be viewed at a wide audience, including Russians, English speakers. In truth, I believe that in the next
He is standing and Shamash is seated and is larger than the King. This clearly signifies the greater of the two. Shamash represented righteousness and justice, thus making the right god for a code of laws (Arts and Culture). Hammurabi believed that he was chosen by the god specifically to write these laws.
The laws were based on an-eye-for-an-eye, tooth-for-a-tooth concept. The penalties varied and were determined by the social class of the harmed (Arts and Culture). The laws were publicly displayed, and arranged in orderly groups. It was setup this way so that all might read and know what was required of them. (
To give a better understanding of the Law Code Of Hammurabi I will show examples of each law pertaining to maltreatment, property, Land, family, and labor.
MaltreatmentIf a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judges bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgment.
PropertyIf any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
If a chieftain or a man leave his house, garden, and field and hires it out, and some one else takes possession of his house, garden, and field and uses it for three years: if the first owner return and claims his house, garden, and field, it shall not be given to him, but he who has taken possession of it and used